了解宇宙是如何运行的（2010）

And Astronomers Think The Next Burst
可能来自极不稳定的恒星WR104
Could Come From A Dangerously Unstable Star, Wr 104.
WR104简直是噩梦
Wr 104 Is The Nightmare.
如今我们有它这个可能候选者
We Now Have A Potential Candidate
有可能爆发伽玛射线暴灭绝我们
For What May Become A Gamma-ray Burster With Our Name On It.
我们就像是在WR104的枪口之下
We Are Literally Staring Down The Gun Barrel Of Wr 104.
WR104不只是一个星体
It's Not One
它是两个互相绕行的巨大恒星
But Two Massive Stars Orbiting Each Other.
WR104会在大爆♥炸♥中死去
The Stars Will Die In A Massive Explosion,
并形成黑洞
Spawning A Black Hole,
爆发出伽玛射线
And Blasting Out Gamma Rays.
这组星体离我们有八千光年
The Object Is About 8,000 Light-years Away,
所以我们在它的屠♥杀♥范围内
So We Are Within The Kill Radius Of This Object.
也许明天你在洗衣服时
So You Could Be Doing Your Laundry Tomorrow,
抬头看一下天空 突然间天空
Look Up In The Sky, And All Of A Sudden,
猛然降下大量辐射
There's This Burst Of Radiation Raining Down From The Heavens.
辐射会彻底破坏地球的臭氧层
The Radiation Rips Off The Earth's Ozone Layer,
产生有毒烟雾
Creating A Toxic Smog
让我们暴露在致命的太阳射线下
And Exposing Us To The Sun's Deadly Rays.
我们所知的生命将无法存活
Life As We Know It Could Cease To Exist.
植物会被烧尽
Plants Would Be Scorched,
依赖植物生存的动物
Animals, Which Depend Upon Plant Life,
会逐渐死去
Will Then Begin To Die.
人类文明必须移到地底
Human Civilization Would Have To Go Underground.
这听起来就像是电影星球大战中的
It May Sound Like The Death Star
死星是《星球大战》系列电影中虚构的DS-1轨道战斗太空站
死星在摧毁地球
Destroying The Earth In "star Wars,"
不同之处是死星是虚构的
But The Difference Is The Death Star Isn't Gonna Happen,
伽玛射线却有可能发生
A Gamma-ray Burst Might.
即使宇宙空间不来致命一击
Our Extinction Could Happen At Any Time.
我们的灭绝也可能发生在任何时间
And The Fatal Blow Doesn't Have To Come From Space.
它可能来自非常特别的事情
It Could Come From The Very Thing
就是让生命成为可能的
That Makes Life Possible
我们的地球
The Earth Itself.
我们的星球也隐藏着大灭绝的武器
Our Planet Conceals A Weapon Of Mass Extinction,
随时准备引爆
Primed To Detonate At Any Moment,
而它就在我们的脚下
Hidden Deep Beneath Our Feet.
我们行星内部的热能一旦释放
Unleashed, The Heat Inside Our Planet
便能摧毁一切 造成巨大规模的破坏
Could Wipe Out Everything In Its Path On A Massive Scale.
让海洋生物大量灭绝伽玛射线暴
200 Million Years After A Gamma-ray Burst
的两亿年之后
May Have Devastated Life In The Oceans,
存活者开始移居到陆地
The Survivors Have Colonized The Land.
其中包括各具特色的爬行类巨兽
Among Them, A Motley Crew Of Monster Reptiles --
颊龙和魔龙
Scutosaurus And Gorgonopsians.
它们活跃而强壮 却难逃一死
They're Successful, Strong, And Doomed.
大约在两亿五千万年前
Around About 250 Million Years Ago Marks
出现了地球上最大的灭绝事件
The Biggest Mass Extinction That The Earth Has Ever Seen,
就是二叠纪灭绝事件
The End-permian Extinction.
超过90%的海洋生物
Just Over 90% Of Marine Fauna
和大约70%的陆地动物
And Around About 70% Of Land Fauna
都从地球上消失了
Disappeared From The Planet.
凶手是火山爆发
The Killer Is A Volcanic Eruption
这是地球上最恐怖的大浩劫
The Biggest And Most Catastrophic the World Has Ever Seen.
两亿五千万年前
250 Million Years Ago,
在今日的西伯利亚
In What Is Now Siberia,
地壳断裂
The Earth's Crust Ruptures,
冲破了临界点
Pushed Beyond Breaking Point
大量炽热的岩浆
By A Vast Plume Of Hot Magma
从地球深处往上涌
Surging Up From Deep Inside The Planet.
地球深处可以产生破坏力超强
The Earth Itself Can Internally Generate
时间长达几百万年的事件
Some Very Devastating Events, Millions-of-years-long Events
以火山大爆发的形式出现
In The Form Of Major Volcanic Eruptions
规模遍及整个大♥陆♥
At The Continent-scale Level.
这些玄武岩火山爆发事件
These Are Basaltic-volcanism Events
让玄武岩岩浆流氓星球的大♥片♥地区
That Flood Entire Portions Of The Planet With Basalt Lava.
熔岩一喷就是两百万年
Lava Spews For Two Million Years.
足以让整个美国覆盖在
There's Enough Lava To Cover The Entire United States
一千英尺（305米）的熔岩下方
Beneath A Thousand Feet.
死亡不仅在爆发点附近发生 就连地球的另一端
And The Death Toll Extends Around The Earth...
和深海都有生物死亡
...and Deep Into The Oceans.
问题是为何会这样
The Question Is Why.
答案就在火山活动最剧烈的国家
The Answer Lies With The Most Volcanic Country On Earth
冰岛
Iceland
两百三十多年前 当地有过类似的规模较小的火山爆发
With A Similar, Smaller Eruption Just 230 Years Ago.
1783年6月
June 1783.
火山爆发造成的一连串恐怖事件
A Terrible Chain Of Events Unfold
拉基火山1783年的喷发开始于1783年6月8日
喷发持续到1784年2月才结束，历时9个月
共喷出了高达一亿两千万吨♥的二氧化硫
导致20%-25%的冰岛人因饥荒和中毒而死亡
以至于对欧洲和北美都产生了很大的影响
不仅重创了冰岛
That Will Devastate Iceland
更导致全球有上百万人死亡
And Kill Up To A Million People Around The World.
就在拉基村附近
Near The Village Of Laki,
有一道17英里（约27公里）长的地壳裂缝
A 17-mile-long Tear Opens Up In The Earth's Crust.
眼前这些地上的坑洞和裂缝
These Holes And Cracks In The Ground That You Can See,
当时喷出了大量的岩浆
They Would've Had Jets Of Magma,
甚至会喷射到空中
Jets Of Lava Flying Up Into The Sky.
说到这场喷发的规模
To Give You An Idea Of Scale,
从拉基火山喷发出的物质
The Overall The Amount Of Material That Came Out Of Laki
有3.5立方英里（14.6立方千米）的火山物质
Is About 3 1/2 Cubic Miles Of Volcanic Material,
这是非常大量的物质
And That's A Lot Material.
拉基火山的爆发不只是规模特别
And It's Not Just The Size Of Laki That Makes It So Special,
重点是火山口里的物质
It's Actually What's Inside This And What Came Out Of This
火山口的喷发物是相当危险的
That's The Dangerous Thing.
因为它喷发了大量的二氧化硫
Because It Had Lots Of Sulfur Gases
还有大量的剧毒氟气
Associated With The Eruption
二氧化硫散布到大气中
And Also Lots Of Fluorine, Quite Poisonous Gases.
它的微小的粒子
Sulfur Dioxide Spreads Out Around The Atmosphere.
形成巨大的镜子
Its Droplets Form A Giant Mirror
将太阳的热能反射回太空
Reflecting The Sun's Warmth Away From The Earth.
虽然连较小规模的
It's Clear That Even
拉基火山爆发
A Relatively Small Eruption Like Laki
都能产生剧烈的气候效应
Can Cause Big, Dramatic s In Terms Of The Climate.
当时处于6月份的北美
In The Northern U.s.,
出现了极为罕见的寒冬
There Was One Of The Coldest Winters Ever Recorded.
密西西比州甚至出现了结冰的记录
In Fact, The Mississippi Is Recorded To Have Frozen.
这场火山爆发也可能导致了日本的大饥荒
It's Been Implicated In Causing The Big Famine In Japan.
因此 火山爆发
So, The s, Potentially, For Volcanoes
将这些有害的气体
That Spew These Horrible Gases
喷到大气层所造成的效应 会导致全球灾难
Into The Atmosphere Can Be Catastrophic On A Global Scale.
现在想象两亿五千万年前的
Now Picture The Siberian Eruptions
西伯利亚火山爆发
250 Million Years Ago.
它的规模是拉基火山爆发的二十万倍
They're 200,000 Times Larger Than Laki
持续时间则是一百万倍
And Last A Million Times Longer.
这些火山释放大量的气体
They Release Massive Quantities Of Gas
引发极端气候变迁
Triggering Extreme Climate Change
首先是大气层变冷 再变暖
First Cooling, Then Heating The Atmosphere.
70%的陆地生物死亡
70 % Of All Land-based Creatures Die,
包括颊龙和魔龙
Including The Mighty Gorgonopsians And Scutosaurus.
但是最惨的情况还没有出现
But Worse Is To Come.
海洋变暖时 会失去氧气变成死水
As The Oceans Warm, They Lose Oxygen And Stagnate.
有毒的藻类产生硫化氢
Toxic Algae Takes Over,
毒害整个海洋
Poisoning The Oceans With Hydrogen Sulfide,
杀死96%的海洋生物
Killing 96% Of Marine Life,
只剩下紫色的硫细菌统治海洋
And Leaving Purple Sulfur Bacteria to Overrun The Oceans,
并将海水变成粉红色
Turning The Water Pink.
这是地球生物最接近
This Is The Closest The Earth Has Ever Come
全面灭绝的一次
To Total Extinction.
但是在之后的两亿年 存活者随着环境演化
But Over 200 Million Years, The Survivors Adapt And Evolve.
一群新的动物出现了
A New Group Of Animals Emerge.
它们是地球史上
They Are The Largest, Most Successful Creatures
最大最繁盛的生物
The Earth Has Ever Seen
那就是恐龙